{"id":109570,"date":"2026-06-18T17:45:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=109570"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:45:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:45:50","slug":"uri-master-gardeners-nurture-history-and-growing-knowledge-in-sites-across-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/uri-master-gardeners-nurture-history-and-growing-knowledge-in-sites-across-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardeners nurture history, and growing knowledge, in sites across the state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 18, 2026 \u2013 The historic Rhode Island village of Chepachet, within the town of Glocester, celebrates its annual, and legendary, Ancients and Horribles Parade every July 4, marking the town\u2019s independent spirit and Revolutionary roots. The annual parade marches by the historic gardens tended by 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardeners Karen Lambe and Val Begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their gardens are vintage, but there\u2019s nothing horrible about these historic gardens \u2014 collectively known as the Glocester Heritage Gardens \u2014 that the pair revived and now maintain for the Glocester Heritage Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lambe supervises the development and maintenance of the Job Armstrong Shopkeeper’s Garden (1181 Main St.), which replicates a mid-1800s-era, family-run cottage garden. The other historic garden in town is the Reuben Mason Medicinal Herb Garden (1043 Putnam Pike), supervised by Begin. This garden represents the Revolutionary era and includes medicinal herbs that would have been used in Dr. Reuben Mason’s surgical practice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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HISTORY IN BLOOM: Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners tend sites across the state, including the Reuben Mason Medicinal Garden in Glocester, named for a Revolutionary War surgeon who lived there. (Photo \/ Val Begin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to provide as much information about the plants and best gardening practices as we can,\u201d Lambe said. \u201cThe Job Armstrong Shopkeeper’s Garden and the Reuben Mason Medicinal Herb Garden are a source of pride for our town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History in bloom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Lambe retired, the former early childhood educator and exhibit developer at the Providence Children\u2019s Museum became a 溏心vlog免费B站 Cooperative Extension<\/a> Master Gardener. She sees the garden as part of both the larger ecology and Chepachet\u2019s unique history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The properties complement one another and tell important stories about 18th- and 19th-century Rhode Island life. Begin said that Chepachet is an important site for history lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n

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STOP BY: The Job Armstrong Garden in the historic district of Chepachet offers an educational garden site. (溏心vlog免费B站 Photo \/ Cooperative Extension)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur town, as little as it is, played a role in the American Revolution,\u201d said Begin, who taught at Ponaganset Middle School. Today, she tends to the Medicinal Garden and says the plants grown there tell the story of earlier times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to keep it to the period and keep it interesting,\u201d she said. \u201cHerbs have had many uses over time. In the past, people would use sweet basil for wounds, for instance, or press seeds to get oils for cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trip through the past<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chepachet\u2019s center was a thriving commercial area in the 19th century, Lambe said, with Armstrong\u2019s store the busiest and most popular of 13 dry goods and grocery stores in the village at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n

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GLOCESTER GARDENS: Summer\u2019s in bloom in the historic gardens of Chepachet in Glocester, Rhode Island. (Photo \/ Val Begin) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The properties were eventually assumed by the Glocester Heritage Society, which utilized the 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardener Program<\/a> for help with designing, researching, planting, maintaining and educating in the types of plants that would have been used at the historic country doctor\u2019s house and the shopkeeper\u2019s garden in town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConquering the shoulder-high weeds, followed by cardboard, compost and mulch applications throughout was our top priority,\u201d Lambe said of the Armstrong Garden. She counsels new gardeners to not get disheartened by what they\u2019re facing in their own yards. After all, she and her volunteers had to battle through several years of neglect to get the garden site back to where they wanted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Master Gardener team now plants a variety of vegetables there each year, for winter storage (squash, potatoes, beets, beans) as well as for immediate use (lettuce, Swiss chard, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers). They donate all of the grown produce to the Glocester Senior Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince having pretty flowers was also important to people of the era, our team also plants lots of ornamentals,\u201d Lambe said. \u201cMaking historically accurate plant choices is a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Master Gardener team welcomes the public into the garden at all times, happy to show them around and discover their gardening interests. \u201cHaving children visit and pick a vegetable is especially gratifying!\u201d Lambe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Armstrong Shopkeeper\u2019s garden is set back from the street. A street side “blackboard” sign designed and built by fellow Master Gardener Rudi Hempe allows them to publicize special events and to answer gardening questions when they are available. They also regularly welcome Master Gardener, and seed expert, Sue Scotti for seed-starting workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lambe says that these historic gardens, and others around the state, can teach Rhode Islanders more about the state\u2019s founding and roots. While Rhode Island celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this summer, she hopes paradegoers will visit the gardens and think about how earlier generations of Rhode Islanders nourished themselves and their families and neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy preserving and interpreting these gardens, we\u2019re creating living classrooms where people can reflect on our shared history and consider how past practices still shape our lives today,\u201d said Matt Durham, a 溏心vlog免费B站 Cooperative Extension program leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master Gardeners support gardens at other historical sites in Rhode Island, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n